What is a human being? What is life? Can science give us reliable answers to such questions? The electricity of life. The meaning of human consciousness. Are we alone? Are the traditional contests between science and religion still relevant? Does the word "spirit" still hold meaning today?

What separates the animate, that which is alive, from the inanimate, that which is not alive? This is a question that has plagued science for some time. The materialist reductionist tell us that we are made up of mostly water and a bucket of chemicals. Whilst they know the chemical constituents, they know not how to imbue these chemicals with what we call life. It seems that what is not mentioned in this ingredient list for life is likely quite obvious to the purveyors of this forum, but nonetheless I shall persist on this path. The main thing that separates the living from the non-living is the self-organizational properties of the living. All functions necessary to maintain life are autonomic and function of their own accord without the need of any conscious thought of the consciousness containing the body. This property can also be described as self-organizing.

Irving Langmuir named the gas containing free electrons plasma because of how it seemed to mimic blood plasma in its self-organizing abilities. And for plasma to exist there is the need of an electric current.

Then there is this video which shows how 20,000 volts of electrons can manipulate steel bearings to self-organize to complete a circuit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeHWqr9dz3c&t=9s And not only do they self-organize to complete the circuit, the movement of these self-assembling wires appears quite lifelike.

Throughout the ages of humanities' known history there has been a belief in a Divine Power that some have called God and it has been a belief shared by the majority. They suggest this Divine Power is the creator of all that there is especially the human equation for we were made in this God's image, or so, some would have you belief.

When we look at the origins of the word God(ignoring the later abuses of this word by religions), like so many words in the Indo-European lexicon we are drawn back to the Hebrew language, which, as a written language contained only consonants(Hebrew alphabet based on Phoenician based on Egyptian) In the Hebrew language the word for God is "El" and the plural is "Elohim". The word "El" when defined meant "great power" or "greatest power". Primarily what should be taken from this if "El" means power, and when we look into an English dictionary at words with the prefix "el", what we find in the vast majority of the time is something related to power.Elevate-to lift with powerElect- to bestow powerElicit-to draw out with powerElation-powerful joyElucidate-to bring power through detailsWhile some might see this as an incredulous stretch, a coincidence even, I do not. Phonologically speaking there is a strong connection between languages and many words are shared with only slight differences suggesting a shared origin in the dark musty hallways of the ancient world, perhaps even the antediluvian world.

The crazy thing is, is that we do not know what electricity is. And on top of that, it seems there is a culture within modern science determined to hide the truth about electricity and its role in the universe. Names such as solar wind seem to detract from the true nature of these positively charged ionic current that is irradiated from the sun in all directions. When we speak of electricity, we speak of charge, when we speak of magnetism we speak of poles, yet the two are the same thing. Lines of force in a bar magnet is current. But even these terms, it seems hides the true nature of electricity for it seems that what is a charge/pole is in fact "spin"(clockwise and counterclockwise), but what it is that is spinning is very much unknown, and will likely remain that way for some time if not forever. And so electricity has that same kind of mysterious aura that God has in that both are truly unknowable. While we can certainly comprehend that which manifests into existence, and in that we can understand how electricity affects that within existence but what it is, is as mysterious and unknowable as the concept of God.

On a more personal level, as is mentioned in other threads in this forum, much of what goes on within us biologically is electrical in nature at the cellular level. Descartes said, in a defiant act of individualism from the universe, "I think therefore I am.", but in my thinking this is an incomplete statement. It should say, "I think therefore I am thought". And of course we know what thought is, it is electrical in nature. And if I am thought, then it seems like a logical conclusion to suggest that I am, in fact, electricity.

So, in summary, if you haven't already figured it out, I propose that electricity is the divine spirit of the universe which is the creator of all things, especially life.

>What separates the animate, that which is alive, from the inanimate, that which is not alive?Daemon_Nice<

G'day, so a robot that looks human, from a real human. The answer is the light of consciousness, the robot does not have this. Nerve impulses go from the retina to somewhere and are translated into the experiencing of light. "God is light". So experiencing is part of god or is of the nature of god.

>I propose that electricity is the divine spirit of the universe which is the creator of all things, especially life. Daemon_Nice<

Electricity is what experiencing responds to. So maybe experiencing can produce electricity as brain nerve impulses which is action. Electricity is intimately connected to the divine spirit, but experiencing is a part of the divine spirit. Cheers, Mo

G'day, so a robot that looks human, from a real human. The answer is the light of consciousness, the robot does not have this.

>>>>What is "the light of consciousness"? What is consciousness? Everything in the universe is conscious and has some degree of consciousness and humans are likely the highest order of consciousness on the planet. Consciousness in living matter doesn't just magically appear in unconscious matter. The atoms that make up the robot have a small level consciousness. The atoms of iron that make up a part of the steel are conscious of its surroundings and if it comes into contact with an atom of H2o, it will know to rust. Basic chemical reactions can be seen as a product of low level consciousness, the chemicals are aware of what they are, their environment and know how to react accordingly. Go up another level of consciousness and you have bacteria and viruses who know who they are, know their environment, but unlike the chemical reactions, the bacteria and viruses have self-organizing abilities that sustain their life, they have autonomic functions. The higher up the animal kingdom the higher the level of consciousness and mammals have the highest awareness of all. When I asked what separates the animate from the inanimate, I wasn't talking about something that is visual. A robot without self-organizing abilities is still an inanimate thing. It may move but it is not living, cannot reproduce and has no awareness beyond that which is programmed.

Consciousness, as far as, I think therefore I am, is thought and thought is nothing more than an electric spark jumping the gap of the neurons in your brain. Therefore consciousness is electricity.

"God is light."Define God without resorting to religious dogma. To suggest that It is light is nothing more than an unsupported assertion. Prove God is light. Make some argument, propose a hypothesis that states the whys and the wherefores of this unsupported assertion. What is light? Do you know? I would venture to say no for much of what you say lacks any scientific context.

"Electricity is what experiencing responds to.">>>>Electricity is one part of an electromagnetic wave that is irradiated from the sun as solar wind, it interconnects the vast reaches of space via Birkeland currents and as the video I linked to in my original essay shows, electricity has self-organizing abilities and is likely in and of itself alive. Everything about an "experience" is electrical in nature. Everything about the universe is electrical in nature. Your perception of an "experience" is electrical and your thoughts regarding the "experience" is electrical. Your consciousness and self-awareness are electrical and all levels of consciousness are likely electrical. If the divine spirit is not electricity, what is it? You offer no counter suggestion only vague assertions that seem out of context in a science based forum and more appropriate in a religious one.

"Nerve impulses go from the retina to somewhere and are translated into the experiencing of light. "God is light">>>>This is about as nonsensible as one can get. Light which is an electromagnetic wave, penetrates the eye is received by the rods and cones in the retina, is inverted in the eye and translated as nerve signals(electricity) to be received by the brain which interprets the electrical nerve signals as the image seen. When the em wave penetrates the eye it enables us to see not only light but dark as well, it is the mix of light and dark that produces the colours and the textures and the shapes of the objects we see.

If we don't use terms related to religion, like god or divine spirit, perhaps the dialog would be more productive.The electric charge does seem to be the central, or fundamental force in the universe, as many on this forum have said.

The rule of thumb when it comes to shared reality is that what the majority believes is reality. In that concepts such as god are historically and probably still are today the reality for most. Unfortunately the concepts most people rely on in this aspect of their lives are dated, ancient, unevolved, dogmatic, psychologically damaging even. By resolving the confusion about the creator and revealing the divine spirit to be electricity I am hopefully evolving spirituality. This has been my life's journey and the knowledge I have attained regarding the electrical nature of the universe, of life, of thought, of consciousness, of soul is at a place where it all makes sense. There are plenty of other people debating the science of it, but as Wal Thornhill often likes to say, the electric universe is multidisciplinarian. And this is my discipline.

A green sheet sends vibrations to the retina and the retina then sends electrical impulses into the brain. Then something extraordinary happens as those electrical impulses induce the experiencing of green. So I am asking you to consider this green. This green is a type of light and many refer to this light as the light of consciousness, whereas I state exactly that this green, or light, is a type of experiencing.

The mainstream state that experiencing is some process of the brain, and this appears to be your thoughts on the matter too. Thus experiencing is brushed over and dismissed. However, what separates the human from the robot, the answer is experiencing. There is no green experiencing in a robot. Hence experiencing is a basic fundamental part of life.

It is like you are saying that there is no real spirit and no god, and that electricity explains religion. And any mention of spirit is unscientific.

plasmadragon,Are there etheric-only electrons and protons? Then there could be an etheric world which would be independent of this world, however our world would be part of the etheric world. Etheric matter could be organised very like ordinary matter.

If electrons, say, are made of concentrated ether then whatever it is that makes electrons behave, could also produce etheric electrons of less concentrated ether. So electricity could be a part of all sizes of matter. So there could be many worlds that we know nothing about, except that radiation, or emanations, might produce experiencing. That is some people could 'see' things in these other worlds.

Is there overriding structure in the universe. There could be. Cheers, Mo

You could say; there is a tangible and organised aspect to the universe. This is in terms of the ability to organise, a associated attribute of its ultimate cause. This cause must exist, to illustrate it is simplest to look at the origin of components and not the processes these components are currently involved in. It is not possible to directly account for the origin of the universe or any aspect of it through some means of measurement, so it is not possible to be conclusive in the absolute sense with these means.

Hi Moses. All living things, both plant and animal, have the ability to produce seed: blueprints or information on how to self replicate. Living things do not self-organize; they pass on information through seed to self replicate. Seeds also have feelings. Certain environmental conditions must exist for the information in the seed to be released, certain building materials must be present for the self replication process to continue to completion, and the finished product must have the ability to intelligently design seed to repeat the process. What came first: the chicken or the egg? How did the chicken self organize without the egg: information? Did the information originate through dumb luck or was it intelligently designed?

In your link, information, 20,000 volts, is intelligently designing the steel bearings to complete a circuit. The bearings are intelligently acted upon by information; not self organizing.

God does not exist. The word “exist” does not exist in the AKJV1611 Bible. However, the phrase “God is” is used 918 times. The word “is” is third person singular: three in one. “God” is Spirit: the intelligent metaphysical power, or “cause” that produces the physical “effects”, or controlled “spin”, that we call electricity.

Viruses (the biological organisms and not computer viruses) have certain features of living beings but cannot reproduce or multiply on their own without a host. A virus is basically simple genetic material (DNA or RNA) with a protein coat.

On its own, a virus can be deemed non-living; it can neither metabolize nor multiply. It is neither a cell with cellular organelles and only becomes living once it enters a host. Once it enters (attack) a hose, it picks up DNA and/or transcribes it into RNA to become active (living).

If virus is both alive and not alive, then where does the discussion go ?I agree with Cargo:

I’m just free thinking here, but seems there are only two truly universal forces - gravity and electricity. These are the fundamental forces I can think of that influence solar systems, galaxies, and the universe at large on a colossal scale, and that account for what we see. So, if we distill each force down to it’s essence, what are they?

In eastern philosophy, the two forces are yin and yang, energy and consciousness/form. Each depends on the other and are dynamically interactive. For instance, our bodies provide the form, the structure (through skin, bone, cells etc) in which countless energy processes take place moment to moment (metabolizing, movement, brain activity, on and on). When we die, the form remains for a time, the “living” energy dissipates quickly and shifts to decomposing processes.

Again, am just musing here, but would it be fair to say that electricity is a pure energetic force (yin), and gravity is a structural/mechanical force (yang), sort of the glue that binds and holds everything together.

If we then apply that to the current EU vs mainstream perspectives, it would seem mainstream is attempting to explain all the energetic happenings they’re witnessing in the universe to a purely structural force, whereas EU is properly recognizing them as caused by energetic forces.

And yes, I understand that electrical forces also create structures, but offhand the ones that come to mind remain highly energetic and dynamic.

As far as the initial post of jtb, my sense is that many things that lie beyond our full knowledge can none the less be strongly sensed in our awareness and experienced. In fact, thinking can often obstruct awareness, and beliefs can obstruct thinking. I’m not convinced that something as weighty as God can be very successfully approached with thinking and definitive beliefs, but it seems evident that there is value in seeking spiritual awareness and experience.

Last note, but regarding beliefs, people tend to have beliefs based on one thing or another. People here pretty much all believe that EU is a more accurate representation of reality than mainstream based on evidence, common sense, replication, better cohesiveness, etc etc. The belief is based on a something, a something that compels them to believe it. My assertion though is that people tend to unconsciously believe whatever they believe because that’s simply what they choose to believe. Or put another way, ultimately, ANY belief is a leap of faith we chose to take, then we select the appropriate evidence or reasons to feel secure in and justify that believe. Which brings me to one of my all time favorite quotes, from the movie Secondhand Lions:

“Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; that love, true love, never dies... No matter if they're true or not, a man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in. - Part of Hub's famous 'what every boy needs to know about being a man 'speech.”

Sovereign Slave wrote:I’m just free thinking here, but seems there are only two truly universal forces - gravity and electricity. These are the fundamental forces I can think of that influence solar systems, galaxies, and the universe at large on a colossal scale, and that account for what we see. So, if we distill each force down to it’s essence, what are they?

Thanks for the compliment about my post, Sovereign. Gravity is a theory that no one has been able to explain in the last 500 years so we may be wasting our time trying to figure it out and we should look for alternatives: electromagnetism. Objects are drawn up or down (never left or right) depending on the density of the medium (air, water, etc...) in which they exist compared to the density of the object. Objects stop rising or falling when their density matches the density of the medium. Why is the medium of air or water denser closest to Earth's surface? I believe that what we call gravity is really electromagnetism and electromagnetism is what effects the density of both objects and the medium in which they exist. Electromagnetism can also explain anomalies which gravity can't, like why clouds, 800 times heavier than air, are floating in the sky.